Kingpins Denim Show Hongkong 2nd Edition – A Review

March 21st, 2010 by Sandeep Agarwal | Filed under Denim Fairs/Exhibitions.

This was the first time I attended a Kingpins and being used to attending big shows like Premier Vision, Texworld, Bread & Butter etc , I was not mentally prepared for the size, location and the informal feel of the show and was a bit taken aback . The show was held in a building on the 5th floor with big trucks moving in and out at the large entrance of a typical Hong Kong industrial building. After climbing in a 5 ton capacity elevator, when we reached the venue - Osage Gallery – which is an art gallery – I was

somewhat relieved to see some very beautiful paintings adorning the high white colored walls . The show was divided in five rooms + one dining hall and the exhibitors had started settling down onto their comfortable sofas and were not separated by partitions or walls . Informally chatting with each other, they seemed to know each other well since most of them have been exhibiting since the beginning.

I was pleasantly surprised when the owner of the show – Andrew Olah – requested all the exhibitors to come to the dining hall and asked them to introduce themselves- which everyone did . It was so unlike the big shows. This set the tone for the show and further charged the atmosphere with the informality that is hardly visible on large shows.

Let me just list down the exhibitors on the show hereunder :

Absolute Denim Co. Limited : Thailand denim manufacturer
American & Efird : Second largest sewing thread supplier in the world.
Atlantic Mills – Thailand Denim Manufacturer
Burlington – Vietnam Piece Dyed Producer
Central Fabrics – Fabric manufacturer from China
Cone Denim – Global denim producer
Copen United – Global pocketing producer
Denim –Tech LLC – Laundry/ Private label package service
Dow XLA – XLA Fibre producer
FEN – Chinese piece dyed producer
Golden Win Group – Jeans from China
H &W Textiles – Chinese denim producer
Jeanalogia – Garment finishing & Development
Kurabo Hong Kong – Japanese denim producer
Kurabo Piece Dyes – Japanese piece dyed producer
Nextgen Packaging – Global label and trim supplier
Prosperity Textiles – Chinese Denim Producer
Rainbow Textiles – Japanese & Chinese Corduroy producer
Saitex International – Jeans from Vietnam
Seaphone Textile Limited – jDenim Producer
TTI Yarn – Yarn Dyes
Zhonghe – Chinese Piece Dyed producer

Once the show started, the buyers started moving in . Since the show allows attendance only by invitation , it was good to see people serious buyers streaming in from brands, buying houses, garment factories etc. A number of overseas buyers also attended the show .Though I would not have the numbers, this show was much more successful than the last show in Hongkong .The first day was extremely busy with buyers pouring in and the exhibitors looked fully occupied.

One of the great things about Kingpins is the FREE FOOD and visitors fully enjoy savouring the great dishes that their chefs turned out during the lunch. At the end of first day – after 6pm – there was again a great dinner party for the visitors and the exhibitors and it really added to the informal and fun atmosphere of the show. I stayed back for the dinner and enjoyed interacting with denim guys around the world.

Notes On Some Interesting Products

Interacting with various exhibitors , I could find some very interesting denim and related products .

Kurabo from Japan : Apart from their great collection ,had come out with a new concept called ‘Kantanmen’ – which means ‘ Easy care cotton’. The Kantanmen denim fabric had a super soft handle and it remained so after a number of washes. Check more on Kantanmen here .
Cone Denim from US also brought out a unique product for the piece dyed fabrics market . The fabric color actually fades out like indigo and gives a unique look to the garment in a couple of washes. This seemed to be an interesting extension of the denim concept to non-denim products.
Dow XLA : Though the XLA from Dow is already well known, it was interesting to see how the fibre survives extreme bleaches and high temperatures on the denim garment .
Jeanalogia from Spain is a very interesting company and manufactures lazers for denim application. Lazers are thought to produce fake denim effects and one can easily recognise lazer effects on a denim garment. But this was not the case in case of Jeanalogia and I had to struggle to find the difference between ‘Lazer sanding’ and ‘Hand Sanding’. Plus their machines which enable washing of garments without water are a great concept for sustainable environment.
Atlantic Mills from Thailand : This mill is making some very cool denims . They had some super dark denim fabrics with a very soft handle and were quite interesting to see.
Copen United : This was the only pocketing company in the show . Pocketing is always considered a boring product as it does not have much innovative. However, some of the pocketing products from Copen like printed fabrics which actually wash down and align with an antique look of jeans were quite interesting.
NextGen Packaging : Nextgen is a global abel and a trim supplier with a large number of products oriented towards specific denim trends like ‘Denim Leggings’ and other trends which develop from time to time.
Denim-Tech : This is one very famous denim laundry from LA which washes denim garments for major denim labels. With expertise on all aspects of denim, they also provide advice to their customers on the kind of denim they should use. I was quite surprised to know that there are washes that can cost upto $180 a piece !!!!
Saitex International from Vietnam : Vietnam is getting more important in the denim garment world. This company makes some real cool jeans for famous denim brands like G-Star .
American & Efird : This is the second largest manufacturer of sewing threads in the world and has operations in over 33 countries. Denim is the most important single segment of business for them and their reason to be in Kingpins.

On the whole , the show was quite successful and I enjoyed visiting the show. The size, the informality of the show, the duration of the show at two days and the great food – all left me much less tired than I would normally be in a tradeshow .The show helped reinforce the unique Kingpins concept of a ‘Tradeshow with a difference’. The Kingpins team need to be congratulated on the same .